                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      August 13, 1996
     
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National 
AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a 
public service only. Providing this information does not 
constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC National AIDS 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this 
text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC 
National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this 
information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
     
     
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"Chilean Politician Says Prison Medics Infected Inmates With 
H.I.V."
"The Reliable Source: A Sobering Interlude"
"Business World: What Else Is Lost in Dr. Kessler's Fog?" 
"Husbands Can Spread Cervical Cancer"
"Patients to Test Drug in Effort to Stop AIDS"
"Lifetime Costs of HIV Infection: Lower in U.S. Versus Australia" 
"Burma Headed for Health Crisis--UK Rights Group"
"Gay Men Show Moderate Interest in Participating in HIV Vaccine 
Trials"
"Study Urges Easing of Syringe Laws"
"HIV Mutations Block Interactions Between Protease and 
Inhibitors"
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"Chilean Politician Says Prison Medics Infected Inmates With 
H.I.V."
New York Times (08/13/96) P. A4
     An opposition political leader has accused paramedics in a
prison in Santiago, Chile, of infecting inmates with HIV by using 
contaminated needles to draw blood for tests.  Thomas Hirsch, 
president of the Humanist Alliance party, a left-wing group, said 
the medical workers used the same needles to draw blood from 
inmates known to have the virus and from those who were not 
infected.  The inmates said 10 syringes were used 
indiscriminately to draw blood from the prisoners.  The head of 
the prison employees' office denied the charges and said he would 
sue Hirsch for slander.  Hirsch said his charges were based on a 
paramedic's report, adding that he plans to file court charges to 
force an investigation.
     
"The Reliable Source: A Sobering Interlude"
Washington Post (08/13/96) P. B3; Groer, Annie; Gerhart, Ann
     At the Republican National Convention Monday night,
HIV-positive AIDS activist Mary Fisher repeated the call for AIDS 
compassion that she made at the 1992 convention in Houston.  She 
was joined by 12-year-old Hydeia Broadbent of Las Vegas, who was 
born to an infected drug user and adopted by Patricia Broadbent 
when she was six weeks old.  The girl read a poem she had 
written, saying "I have a bright future and no one can take that 
away from me.  I am the future."
     
"Business World: What Else Is Lost in Dr. Kessler's Fog?" 
Wall Street Journal (08/13/96) P. A13; Jenkins Jr., Holman W.
     In a commentary on the relationships between drug companies
and the Food and Drug Administration, Holman W. Jenkins Jr. 
points to the events surrounding the approval of Johnson & 
Johnson's home HIV test.  The test, developed by Elliott 
Millenson and his wife Wendy Strongin, was bought by J&J after 
the FDA rejected it, and David Kessler, the agency's head, said 
he would never approve home-testing for HIV.  Millenson then sold 
his company to J&J in an attempt to gain J&J's "participation in 
the approval process and eventual marketing of the [HIV home 
testing] product."  Millenson became head of J&J's Direct Access 
Diagnostics division and was given a budget for lobbying and 
contributions.  When the FDA eventually approved the test in May, 
however, Millenson had already been fired by J&J amid questions 
about lobbying contributions he had made and negative publicity. 
An arbitrator has ordered the company to return the test and 
related assets to Millenson.  Jenkins contends that the example 
illustrates the problems associated with allowing politics to 
influence the approval of drugs and devices by the FDA.
     
"Husbands Can Spread Cervical Cancer"
Washington Post--Health (08/13/96) P. 7; Auerbach, Stuart
     Husbands who have extramarital sex can infect their wives
with a human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical 
cancer, researchers reported last week.  F. Xavier Bosch of 
Barcelona and Nubia Munoz of the International Agency for 
Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, led the study of 183 Spanish 
women, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 
Health problems related to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) 
are more common and more serious in women and can be passed on to 
children during pregnancy or at childbirth.  The Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 12 million 
Americans are infected with some form of STD each year.
     
"Patients to Test Drug in Effort to Stop AIDS" 
Richmond Times-Dispatch (08/12/96) P. B4
     A total of 2,500 patients at 50 clinical trial sites
nationwide will receive a new treatment for HIV infection, aimed 
at preventing the progression to AIDS.  Remune, developed by the 
late Dr. Jonas Salk, is designed to boost the immune system to 
control HIV.  The treatment is made from HIV that has been 
inactivated with radiation and has had a protein removed.  The 
treatment, developed by Immune Response Corp., has shown some 
evidence of boosting the immune system.
     
"Lifetime Costs of HIV Infection: Lower in U.S. Versus Australia" 
Reuters (08/12/96) 
     The lifetime costs of treating patients with HIV seem to be 
higher in Australia than in the United States, researchers at the 
University of Melbourne reported.  Susan F. Hurley and colleagues 
found that the average lifetime cost to a HIV-infected patient in 
Australia was $93,000, 49 percent of which was spent on drugs and 
32 percent on hospital care.  In the United States, the 
comparable costs were about 17 percent lower.  Hurley said the 
lower costs in the United States seemed to be due to lower rates 
of hospitalization and drug prescribing, possibly because of 
reduced access to health services.
     
"Burma Headed for Health Crisis--UK Rights Group" 
Reuters (08/13/96) 
     Political isolation, ethnic conflict, and censorship in
Burma has led to a health crisis and increased the spread of HIV, 
the London-based International Center Against Censorship reports. 
The group said accurate statistics concerning public health in the 
country are rare or non-existent.  It also noted that HIV has 
spread rapidly over the past decade due to drug abuse and 
prostitution.  Burma's military government has been criticized for 
its authoritarian policies and alleged human rights abuses.  The 
World Health Organization estimates that half a million people in 
the country of 46 million were infected with HIV in 1995, although 
official statistics say only 9,885 people carry the virus.
     
"Gay Men Show Moderate Interest in Participating in HIV Vaccine 
Trials"
Reuters (08/12/96) 
     About half of the homosexual or bisexual men living in the 
greater Boston area said they would be "somewhat" interested in 
participating in clinical trials of HIV vaccines, researchers 
say.  Michael Gross of Abt Associates and colleagues surveyed 630 
men in two age groups and found that 34 percent were "not at all" 
interested and 16 percent were "very" interested.  Older men were 
significantly more likely than younger men to show interest.
     
"Study Urges Easing of Syringe Laws" 
AIDS Alert (07/96) Vol. 11, No. 7; P. 83
     Most states still enforce laws written 30 years ago to make
the sale, distribution, and possession of syringes illegal 
without a prescription, Georgetown law professor Lawrence Gostin 
recently reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.  Gostin told the agency, which does not endorse 
needle exchange programs, that such laws have contributed to the 
spread of HIV among injection drug users.  While CDC officials 
recognize the benefit of needle exchange programs for reducing 
HIV infection, they say they require more evidence that 
legalizing syringes would not increase drug use.  "The states 
need to look and see if the laws still make sense, but we are not 
making any federal recommendations," said the CDC's Dr. Helene 
Gayle.  Federal funds may not be used for needle exchange 
programs in the United States unless the surgeon general 
concludes that they reduce HIV infection and do not lead to 
increased drug use.  An AIDS advisory council to the governor of 
New Jersey has recommended that the state law be changed to 
support needle exchanges, having found that such programs are as 
useful in reducing HIV transmission as drug abuse treatment 
programs in the state.
     
"HIV Mutations Block Interactions Between Protease and 
Inhibitors"
Chemical & Engineering News (07/29/96) Vol. 74, No. 31, P. 44
     By changing enough to prevent a drug from binding to it, HIV
protease can become drug-resistant after a patient has been 
taking it for only a few weeks.  Researchers are studying ways to 
make drugs less vulnerable to HIV's changes; however, they first 
need to understand how the virus affects drug binding.  Paul Ala 
and colleagues at DuPont/Merck Pharmaceutical recently presented 
their work on HIV's resistance to their protease inhibitor DMP323 
at the 11th International Conference on AIDS.  Although problems 
with DMP323 took it out of consideration for use in humans, the 
scientists noted that it is a valuable tool to help in the 
understanding of how HIV mutates to prevent the drug from 
binding.  The research could also be important for understanding 
resistance to protease inhibitors in general.
     
     


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